April 21 - Biko

Some album closers are just so good that they immediately become concert closers as well, and Peter Gabriel's Biko from his third album with the title Peter Gabriel (there was a fourth one as well - the third one is often referred to as the meltdown album based on its cover) is one of those songs. On stage, the musicians walk off one by one until there are only the pounding drums left - then they finish and the concert is over.

There is power in the music - the bagpipe sounding synth riff, the pounding drums, the guitar that only plays drawn out chords - but the real power lies in the lyrics of the song, about Stephen Biko, an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa who died while in police custody. Police initially tried to say he died from a hunger strike, but eventually had a hard time explaining the bruises from the harsh interrogation (read: torture) in police room 619 in Port Elizabeth, just as the lyrics state. The way the lyrics are built is also very interesting. The first verse is almost like a news report, stating the facts, with the chorus proclaiming that "the man is dead." The second verse deals with conscience and how this death has an impact, while the final verse is turning it into hope and a growing fire. And, finally, in the coda of the song, "the eyes of the world are watching now."

I didn't know much about Stephen Biko until I was watching a screening of the Richard Attenborough movie Cry Freedom with Denzel Washington portraying Biko, but the movie and Biko's story had a huge impact on my 15 year old self. When I also discovered Peter Gabriel's song, it really became the guiding star and rallying cry for my very spirited talk against racism and apartheid (being against apartheid is easy when you are as far away as I was - the racism part was more personal) - and that has in turn shaped the part of me that tries to be very open to others, regardless of race, ethnicity, religious or political views, or any other differences I might have from them. Please note that I said that I try - I am well aware that I don't always succeed, but that doesn't mean that it isn't my goal to be open.